Margaret Thatcher was so worried about her image before the 1979 election she went on a crash diet.

Personal papers released yesterday showed the former PM ate up to 28 eggs a week to boost her protein intake and lose weight.A note, found in her 1979 diary, listed the strict two-week regime as she prepared for office.

Click to expand...

Maggie also knocked booze on the head - but still had a nip of her favourite tipple whisky with meat meals. The Margaret Thatcher Foundations Chris Collins said: I think she was looking to get in trim for the cameras.

She probably thought: Theyre are going to be on me the whole time, Ill lose some weight.

But she is not somebody who had a problem with weight at all.She is on the move the whole time, she burns energy.The note, released by the foundation, was headed The Mayo Clinic Diet.Mr Collins said it is the first time a PMs personal notes had been made public during their lifetime.